“shoza” (initial seating) “goza” (latter seating) May is the season when the “furo” is used for the first time of the year. Last autumn, two students in their twenties from my class received their tea names. To commemorate the occasion, we held a “chaji” (formal tea gathering) at Meisho-an in Saginuma. Both have studied tea for eight to ten years and have made wonderful progress. A chaji is a formal tea gathering that includes the charcoal-laying procedure (sumi-temae), a “k

My tea ceremony class celebrated its 10th anniversary last year, and I compiled the blog posts I'd been writing on my website into a commemorative booklet. The title is "好日 Kōjitsu" (Good Day). It was completed at the beginning of this year, and I've been distributing books to everyone. In January, to commemorate the booklet's completion, I hung the shikishi (decorative paper board) with the title "Kōjitsu" that I used for the cover. Today the tea was held on a long board w

(The thick tea) （ The thin tea） This is the first tea ceremony of the year at Kawasaki Daishi Temple in January. My friend in Urasenke Kawasaki branch gave me tea ceremony tickets, and I attended with members of my tea class. This year, the thick tea was the first of the morning, so I was able to hear the Kawasaki mayor's New Year's greeting and watch the charcoal procedure. The hanging scroll in the alcove was "Ousei" (Japanese nightingale's song) written by Hounsai, the 15t